I’ve been back to the Rhinogs a number of times since doing my mountain leader training and it is a wonderfully wild part of Wales, thankfully and often overlooked by the usual tourists who just want to see Snowdon. This is a good thing as for the inexperienced this is tough terrain, often very muddy, physically challenging and also difficult to navigate. For the seasoned adventurer however this is a ruggedly beautiful wilderness, mainly left undisturbed by stag parties, lads weekends, hen do’s and people who get confused by the fact there isn’t a Tesco hiding behind one of the boulders for them and an uber driver on standby.
Approaching from the East there’s only a small amount of gritted paths in the area which rapidly give way to muddy terrain due the the abundance of small streams that are often teeming with newts, frogs and waterborne insects. The trails are often invisible around here or wholly inexistant especially in the spring and summer where the rarely disturbed heather and ferns creep over any available space. Movement around the Rhinogs takes some skill and determination – the mud is often deep in the valleys and the ascents are steep and loose. Higher up on the peaks the ground can be very uneven, and sometimes can be comprised of mainly rock. The way you enter this area isn’t usually straightforward either, this time we come inland from the East coming off the main road onto a narrow gated road before parking in a tiny carpark which can only accommodate a small amount of cars. As I drive towards my start point wild ponies decide they don’t care I’m here and shuffle along the road.
We are here with the intention of wild camping tonight after our hike as this is an excellent place to do it, quiet, isolated and with not much chance of seeing many other people. The first leg of route we have planned will take us up Rhinog Fach and then descending again down towards and past Llyn Hywel before another steep ascent up onto Y Llethr. Providing we manage this and to make camp successfully by Llyn Hywel the next day we will head to Rhinog Fawr and ascend that then continue onto Foel Ddu and see what happens after that. Apart from it being a great experience our main aim is to get some navigation practice and another wild camp write up towards our Mountain Leader logs.
I meet Andy in the car park and we do a quick kit check – there won’t be any chance to pop back easily if we miss anything. We then head off towards the mountains in the distance following what’s only a small amount of gritted forest path, finding the start of the trail is easy and before we know it we are on the stone slabs that form a sort of trail towards Rhinog Fach. The trail to the summit isn’t so obvious here, hidden amongst the undergrowth and hopping a wall luckily I remember this from the last few times I’ve been here and soon we are making our way up the steep trail to the summit. This isn’t a nice easy gradual ascent last time I was here it was heavy going, this time I’m carrying a heavy rucksack and all my camping gear. Of course this makes life a lot harder and it immediately does and on each step soil and pebbles come loose. You can imagine how much more difficult the going gets when the weather is wet, and luckily right now it is not. In sections the trail is so steep the path is pretty close to your face. In time this gives way to rocky outcrops which make for some great photographs and though the going is hard as you ascend the views across the Rhinogs are amazing and quickly make you realise how rugged the landscape here is.
After we hit the summit we get an amazing view looking down onto Lly Hywel and I’m sure from my photo’s you can see what I mean when I say the whole area is ‘ruggedly beautiful’. The way others have taken down to Llyn Hywel is only really discernible by flattened pebbles and rocks and a slight stain from where mud from boots has stained the rocks.
Heading down from the summit it’s not long before we find a large boulder that strongly resembles a stone couch so we do what everyone else would do and take a load off to enjoy the view properly for feels like the first time ever.
Should We Set Up Camp?
We spot an excellent place to pitch the tents over the other side of lake we can see how flat it is from here however we haven’t travelled much of a distance and the full plan was to summit Yr Llethr today as well so in a choice we may regret later we ditch the idea of pitching yet and continue. Looking back in hindsight we should have set up camp and lightened our bags.
Yr Llethr
The ascent from the lake is very steep and there’s plenty of places on the way up that appear to have had small land slips and even mud slides from heavy rain. There are deep runnels in the slope from streams of water here and this all makes the ascent far more of a challenge. When we reach the summit itself the peak is not much worth writing home about, it does however offer some great views of Rhinog Fach and Fawr behind us and we stop to take them in deciding to turn back and set up camp for the night. The sun is getting low in the sky and camp set up in the dark is a giant pain in the ass.
Campsite Invasion Fail
As we start descending Yr Llethr the loose scree and runnels we encountered on the way up here make the going difficult though we will be down way before sunset at this rate. As I say this to Andy though we stop for a second to take the scene in, and this is the exact point when two figures that look like ants from this height appear over the rise behind Llyn Hywel and start making directly for our intended campsite. At this point maybe quite understandably I start to swear my head off to myself and Andy. All we can do is watch from above as I say ‘ maybe they are just going to go past it’ as if they hear me a tent appears below. The hopes of us getting a decent pitch now are well and truly ruined.
When we finally make it to the half way point between Glyder Fach and Yr Llethr at what I’m now referring to as the sofa boulder we stop to refuel. Though I’m still really annoyed with myself for just getting the tents out earlier, while me and Andy are chewing away on our chocolate bars a ominous rumble from the distance bounces around the mountains. In the distance lightning flashes in the clouds and it begins to spit rain. The storm coming it looks like it could be bad later. The silver lining here however is the amazing and moody sunset through the clouds across the mountains, and of course I have to stop and get a few pictures.
We make our way down the trail along the shore of the lake and pass the campers who turn out to be a young couple and I grudgingly say hello. We could politely ask them if they wouldn’t mind us setting up here too but I think this would be weird, and frustratingly the space has more than enough room for a few tents. Realistically I don’t think I’d want to camp near a pair of strangers overnight anyway so we continue. It’s my own fault for not setting down with the tents when we had the chance Next time I’ll just pitch up, start sharpening my bushcraft knife on a stone and talk to myself then nobody will want to camp. Or maybe just put the tents down and come back later 🙂 though that wouldn’t be as fun. Even though it could be grim weather here overnight, part of me hasn’t yet resigned to not camping despite our bad luck, so we discuss looking for other possible pitches on our way back to the cars.
We are heading around the side of Rhinog Fach and between the two lakes to loop back to the main trail in the valley and we only see one other guy trying to camp, but the pitch he’s chosen just shows that there isn’t anything else going in this section we are in, he’s practically on top of the heather and all my mind goes straight away to the idea that he’s going to wake up covered in ticks.
Even though I’m still annoyed with myself and fate for losing our camping spot it’s now pretty much dark and I have to do some night navigation, the silver liner here being that night nav was something I was pretty awful at when I was here doing my mountain leader training. However this time round I’m not finding it hard and before long we are back to the main trail in the valley.
Floor, meet Face, Face, Meet Floor
Returning back it begins to rain a little which is not a massive surprise for Wales, and we pick up the pace. However we are passing the muddy section of which there is plenty in the valley. It’s worth noting some of the mud here can look suspiciously solid when it is in fact very very deep. One patch looks like solid ground until it eats my entire right leg all the way up past my knee and I find my face hurtling towards the boggy ground with speed like my heads made out of metal and the floor is a magnet. Just a split second before I’m about to say an early goodnight from delivering an almighty headbutt to the ground I manage to get my hands out stopping with my eyeballs about a fists distance from the boggy floor. That was extremely close and it takes a second to register I’m ok, the only thing is I now have to wrench my leg out of the mud with a huge sucking squelch noise. I get I get childhood trauma flashbacks of Artax in the Never Ending story, though majestic horse I am not.
As if to add further injury and more insult no more than five minutes later I lose my other leg in exactly the same way…almost. This time my walking pole falls under me right under the knee of the leg that hasn’t been eaten by the mire and I fall with all my weight onto my knee and onto the metal pole. This hurts in a way it’s difficult to even describe and I supress a scream of pain, when I pull myself out I see my not overly cheap black diamond pole is now bent. Anyway if you are coming out here watch out for that it’s a bit of a bastard.
We finally make it back to the cars, tired and in need of a pint, I’m covered in gunk like swamp thing. We may not have made the camp but it’s definitely been a mainly great experience. It turns out the next day not camping even though we didn’t have the opportunity wasn’t so bad after all. It’s wet and stormy all day – which must have been lovely to wake up to for those who did!
Requiem For The Extreme 